Jennifer Dugan’s Coven follows young Emsy, who has spent her entire life in sunny California and would much rather spend her days on the beach with her gorgeous girlfriend instead of working on her secret powers as a fire elemental. But when tragedy strikes and members of her family’s coven back east are murdered under mysterious circumstances, Emsy and her family is uprooted to return back to New York. There, Emsy will have to work on getting a handle on her powers and help figure out who the murderer is…before her family becomes the next fatal target.
Murder mystery? Witchcraft? A queer witch? Sign me up! I don’t know about you, but for me there can never be enough witchy reads when autumn approaches.
While the story isn’t anything super out of the norm, it was still highly entertaining to follow Emsy on this murder mystery all while trying to get a grip on her magical powers. Coven also deals with a plethora of topics from grief to betrayal and being ripped away from your home—or having it taken from you in this graphic novel. Though it isn’t the major focus of the story, I also really liked Emsy playing around with her magic and gaining more insight into the family history. The magic system is also really cool and I wish we would have spent a bit more time on it but for the sake of the murder mystery aspect, I do get why it wasn’t more detailed. There’s also a super diverse cast of characters and I for one was super happy to have a queer protagonist in a witchy story. My favourite part though was definitely the found family vibes this story had going on. Emsy, Ben and Ashley make up a fun trio and though their start is a bit rocky—I mean, Ben is literally dealing with grief while Emsy has been ripped away from her old life—I really enjoyed how they came to protect each other. We get a good amount of character development on their characters’ parts and it still kept me wanting more.
Kit Seaton’s art style in this graphic novel also added so much to the overall story. Seaton’s art style is engaging and youthful, playing with colours really well when it comes to the “witchy, yet Cali vibes” protagonist Emsy and how she perceives everything around her. There’s a lot of attention to detail with cute nods to witchcraft that made the panels practically come to life in my mind.
If you’re in the market for a fast-paced murder mystery, found family vibes and an inclusive cast of characters, then Coven is a perfect read to add to your spooky fall TBR!
Coven is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 6th 2022.
Will you be picking up Coven? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
In this queer, paranormal YA graphic novel debut from the author of Some Girls Do and the illustrator of Wonder Woman: Warbringer, a young witch races to solve the grisly supernatural murders of her coven members before the killer strikes again.
[This] gorgeously illustrated tale mashes together murder mystery and witchcraft. –Nerdist
Emsy has always lived in sunny California, and she’d much rather spend her days surfing with her friends or hanging out with her girlfriend than honing her powers as a fire elemental. But when members of her family’s coven back east are murdered under mysterious circumstances that can only be the result of powerful witchcraft, her family must suddenly return to dreary upstate New York. There, Emsy will have to master her neglected craft in order to find the killer . . . before her family becomes their next target.
